[August 11, 2014; Links online magazine]
The Kurdish people are facing an unprecedented challenge. Across a vast swathe of northern Syria and Iraq, the region's Kurds are locked in a desperate and heroic struggle with the genocidal forces of the so-called Islamic State (IS). Fighting is raging from Aleppo and Kobanê in Syria to Mosul and Kirkuk in Iraq — and all points in between. (The 'front' is enormous: for example, the direct distance from Aleppo to Kirkuk is over 650km.)